Comments

Franklin Medical College

This building, constructed in 1836 by Ira Minard, served as site
of Minard's company store until the early 1840s when Franklin Medical College
took over the building.

Franklin Medical College was the first medical school in
Illinois. It existed for only a brief seven-year period. George W. Richards, an
established doctor, founded the school in 1842. During its years in operation
the school offered courses in anatomy, pharmacy, surgery, and obstetrics.
Classes ranging in size from 15 to 20 students trained under well known doctors
who were considered experts in their respective fields.

All seemed to be going well with the medical school until
one student, John Rood of Maple Park, made the mistake of robbing the grave of
a local young woman. Rood, a student who was attempting to complete his
education in 1849, heard of the death of Mrs. George Kenyon. With the help of
George Richards, the son of the school's founder, Rood took the young woman's
remains from their resting place in Sycamore. Though they hid her body in the
Richards' barn, the men had not gone unnoticed; people had seen and noted the
wagon and the young men's strange actions.

After hearing of the mysterious activities of the medical
students, the deceased woman's family discovered the body's absence. An angry
group of citizens set out to question Dr. Richards. Dr. Richards denied all
knowledge of the body's whereabouts. Once the citizens had left, Dr. Richards
learned the truth and ordered that the body be taken from its hiding place. He
hoped that by removing the body from his property, he would be able to settle
the matter calmly.

The situation ended in a violent manner. The
group of citizens, doubting the word of Dr. Richards, had decided to return to
his home to secure Mrs. Kenyon's body. On searching the property, the group
found a dissected male cadaver in the barn. This enraged them, and when they
returned to confront Dr. Richards at his home, gunshots were fired through the
Richards' door. John Rood was killed and Dr. Richards was wounded.

There are two different accounts of what happened next. One
claims that following the gunfire, a mediator got the students to reveal the
location of the body in exchange for immunity from punishment. The other, a
decidedly more intriguing account, has local spiritualist Caroline Howard
revealing the body's whereabouts. Either way, Mrs. Kenyon's body was recovered
and returned to her Sycamore grave.

The Franklin Medical College
closed as a result of the Richard's Riot incident. Dr. Richards moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he died of
pneumonia in 1853.

Not all bad came of "Richards' Riot." Officials
came to the realization that medical schools needed materials in order to
train their students. So that grave robbing was not the sole option for medical students, a
law was passed providing that all unclaimed corpses from charity hospitals be donated to medical schools.

Over the years, this building that once sat at the center of
one of St. Charles's most colorful events has housed many businesses.
Wilcox and Munn Dry Goods Store was located here near the end of the 19th
century. From the early 1920s through the mid-1940s Elmer and Ina Marshall operated Marshall's Variety Store in this building. A.H. Borman & Co., later called Borman's Hardware, located their store here after the Marshalls closed their business in about 1945. It remained a hardware store until the law firm of Dowling, Safanda & Swanson took over the space and it became known as The Lawyer's Building. The building remained vacant after the lawyers moved out in 1995 until Armand's Restaurant was established in 1999. Since then, several other restaurants have occupied the old Franklin Medical College building.

The building was originally constructed
of stone and had arched windows. Today, its exterior has been altered in such a
way that it barely resembles the original building.

A Hundred Years and More: A Historical Play of St. Charles - Episode IV, Scene 2 - Richards' Riot (IDA) Nelson, Rodney B. The Franklin Institute: Illinois' First Medical School: Being Also a History of Resurrection and a Primer on the Art of Grave Robbing
(REF 610.9773 NEL)